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Train From London To Manchester Costs Passenger More Than A Flight To New York

A woman traveling from London to Manchester on the train recently paid more for her ticket than it would have cost her to fly from London to New York.

It feels as if we are constantly being told that we have to reduce our carbon footprint, and rightly so. The human race has done a massive amount of damage to the planet and we need to do all that we can to reverse some of that damage. The trouble is, in some walks of life, companies and governments really aren't making that task an easy one.

Take public transport, for example. In an ideal world, everyone would travel on buses and trains, especially when going short distances. However, many countries and cities don't make that easy or even possible. Services are either unreliable or unaffordable. That was demonstrated recently via a woman taking the train from London to Manchester in the UK.

Martha Kelner, a television presenter for Sky News, traveled to Manchester from London for business. When she arrived at the train station she was shocked and appalled to discover that a return trip to the Northern city was going to set her back a staggering £338 (almost $425). Some were skeptical about the purchase so Martha posted a photo of the ticket on Twitter as proof.

People quickly started making comparisons to other trips she could have made for much less. Metro has handily thrown up some flight prices to compare it to. Apparently, a last-minute one-way ticket to New York would have cost just £257 ($321) and a return to The Big Apple, if bought with a few days notice, would have been almost £100 ($125) cheaper. We know which trip we would prefer to take.

Martha traveled with Virgin Trains on her expensive day trip to Manchester and the company has responded to the extortionate price she had to pay. A spokesperson from the company explained that had she bought the ticket in advance, she could have got it for as little as £23 ($28.80). That's all well and good but the trouble is, that isn't always possible. That nature of some travelers' lives and jobs means they have to take public transport with little notice, and if they do it. it is clearly going to cost them a lot of money.